Revoking my "Girl Card"

Shoes! I don’t like them, hate buying them, and seriously wish I didn’t have to wear them. When I admit that to other woman most of them give me a gasp! I get the look of “HOW COULD YOU!?!?!” That’s when they start contemplating revoking my Girl Card. Guess what? I’m TOTALLY fine with that. I’ve never been much of a “girl” anyway. What I am though is an artist. So what happens to a “non girlie girl” artist who doesn’t like shoes, but has a hard time wearing an outfit that doesn’t QUITE match? This is what happens…this post is what happens.

I become resourceful… I start thinking outside the box. I think it’s time for another project. One that is quick enough to not lose my focus. (OH LOOK! A Squirrel!!!)  I can complete it within a nice timely manner and it’s something that I can wear, show off to other woman, get my “Girl Card” back and get bonus points in the creative department. Every woman knows that woman do not dress for men. We dress for other woman because men could not care any less. We all know it’s the truth whether we admit it to ourselves or not.

So I’m dedicating this post to my bestie. She’s my shoeaholic best friend that has given me more shoes in the last three to four years that I’ve probably bought for myself my whole adult life. We wear the same size, and where I might have twenty pairs of shoes in my closet, hers is probably close to the two hundred mark, if not more. I also employ her to buy shoes on my behalf so I actually don’t have to go out looking and shopping for myself. She’s the woman I go to for anything shoe related; she makes sure that my Girl Card stays up to date and doesn’t expire. Jen, you are my person!  Now on with the post…

Believe it or not you can do this too: Shoe ART!

Supplies you will need:

1 pair of white canvas shoes

Jen should be proud of me I went to Payless Shoe Source NOT ONCE but TWICE to pick up shoes - Beam with PRIDE Jen! Got them on SALE for $14 a pair too!

You can get the following at any arts and craft stores:

1 Bottle of Gesso

Gesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these.  It is used in artwork as a preparation for any number of substrates such as wood panels, canvas and sculpture as a base for paint and other materials that are applied over it.

Acrylic Paints

Acrylic Paint is a fast-drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints are water soluble, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting, or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media.

Paint Brushes

Pencils/Markers

Exacto knives/Scissors

Water Repellent Spray/Scotchgard

Painters Tape

Bowl for water and a plate for paint

Paper towels/Napkins in case you need them to clean off your brushes

Plastic sandwich bag if needed

Directions:

So like any good crafter I decided to do my homework first to see what I needed to do before I just bought a pair of shoes and started painting on them. What I found out was you can’t just pick up a pair and paint them without the paint seeping thru and ruining the pair of shoes you just bought.

1.      When you get home and you are ready to start your project I personally preferred to mask off the soles of the shoes with painters tape first. That way, depending on the color of your canvas shoes you don’t get Gesso or paint on the rubber part of the shoe.

Oh La La Canvas Shoes!

2.     Next you’ve got to prime the canvas. That’s why you need to purchase Gesso. Gesso also needs 24 hours to dry. I highly suggest that you put two coats of paint on the shoes first. Set aside the shoes somewhere out of the reach of children or pets.

Painters tape really helps, it might take a little time, but it's worth it

3.     While this dries it’s a good time to figure out exactly what you want to do with your shoes. Your creativity is only stunted by how far you want to take your design. I’ve seen some crazy looking shoes on the internet. If you are lost for ideas, go do some research. Pinterest,  Etsy,  and Google will give you LOTS of examples. (Yes I said Google….I’m living in the dark ages…I get it)

Go slow...rushing only gives you more mistakes to go back and fix

4.     Once you’ve figured out what you want to do this is where I can give you ideas, but can’t tell you necessarily HOW to do it. Your imagination is key to your design; necessity is the mother of invention. I use the internet, templates, a copy machine, Exacto knives, scissors, markers, pencils…whatever is handy to help me get the look I’m trying to achieve.

I wanted more Mac' n Cheese yellow and ended up with Tennis ball yellow instead

5.     Once completely finished and dried with your design that you are happy with it’s time for the water repellent spray. Take your shoes into a well ventilated area. I prefer outside, in a box top far away from things I don’t want Scotchgarded, but that’s just me. You will want to give your shoes at least two coats of spray. Spray first and let it completely dry, usually that takes a couple of hours.

My sexy Cardinal Kicks!!! 

6.     Once your shoes are sprayed and dried they are ready for laces! Now go rock on with your bad self!!!

Rocking my shoes at the Cards Game!!!

This link is great for trying to figure out exactly what color you will need when mixing paint:

http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/hue.html

So with my Cardinal Baseball shoes I can tell you I used painters tape, Gesso, paint, the Ballpark Village Logo off the net, shrunk it on a copy machine to make it the size I wanted, scissors to cut it out, a pencil to trace around the logo, I also used a plastic stencil to give my shoes those little diamonds, a fine tip black Sharpie pen and regular Sharpie permanent markers.

For my Green Bay Packer shoes I used the painters tape, Gesso, paint, the Packers Logo from the net, shrunk it on a copy machine to make it the size I wanted, scissors to cut it out, pencil to trace around the logo several different times, a plastic sandwich bag, and Mitch’s brain. Now you all have access to all of those things except for Mitch’s brain. He’s a GODSEND when it comes to figuring out how to get that perfect Packer Green and Packer Yellow. Just in case you were wondering it is Green and a LITTLE drop of Red to get that dark green color and Yellow and a LITTLE drop of red to get the Mac 'n Cheese color. 

**TIP**

I mentioned the plastic bag. It’s the only way I can use a piece of clothing to try and match the paint color without ruining it. If you need that, "exact" color, and you have an example I suggest putting the article of clothing on a flat surface. Then you can lay a plastic sandwich bag over the article of clothing,  mix paints on the plate, and transfer the paint over to the plastic bag. The true color of the clothing shows thru the plastic and the paint stays on the bag. That way you get as close to the real color without the mess! Et Voila!

Happy Cardinal Shoes

Aaron Rodgers would be PROUD! Go PACK!

P.S. - Since I"m such a NUT about clutter and extra stuff...these two pairs came into my house and four pairs of shoes are leaving. Whatever new stuff comes in, old stuff goes out.